Splat!
by sasha1600
Summary: A harmless little snowball fight.
1. Chapter 1

**Splat!**

**Summary:** A harmless little snowball fight.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own them; I just play with them.

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A/N: This was inspired by a conversation I had with Xanthe2 over on LiveJournal about fanfic characters and the recent snowfall in the UK. Some of the humour plays a bit on what you might expect if you know my usual stories, but this is not part of my 'Lessons' series or the 'Future Perfect' universe.

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_Thursday_

Tim rolled over in bed, wincing as his butt made contact with the mattress and provided a painful reminder of the previous afternoon's events. He groaned, a bit embarrassed about how he'd gotten the angry purple bruise on his backside, and not looking forward to Tony teasing him about it. He dragged himself out of bed and headed towards the shower, hoping the team would catch a case early in the day so he could avoid sitting down as much as possible.

X X X

_Wednesday_

Tim tipped his face skywards in childlike delight, enjoying the snow swirling around him. The team had been caught up in a murder investigation and he hadn't really had a chance to appreciate how beautiful the Navy Yard was, under its fluffy white blanket. Now, murderer caught and team finally allowed to go home, he looked around at the snow that had accumulated over the last several days and was still peacefully falling in massive flakes that floated slowly to the ground.

He was startled out of his reverie by an impact on the back of his head, followed by a cold trickle down the back of his collar. He turned his head, just in time to be hit full in the face by the next snowball.

He sputtered, wiping snow from his face, as Tony laughed and dove for cover behind some evergreen shrubbery.

Tim stooped down and scooped up a handful of snow, packing it lightly into a snowball. He lobbed it in a gentle arc over the shrubs where Tony had disappeared, but knew he'd missed his target when two snowballs flew in quick succession from the other end of the hedge.

He dodged, avoiding one of Tony's snowballs. The other caught him in the shoulder, leaving a soggy splodge on his jacket.

Frustrated, he wadded more snow into a ball. He heard movement nearby and aimed in the direction of footsteps crunching in the snow. He looked up just in time to see his snowball score a perfect head shot.

On Gibbs.


	2. Chapter 2

Tim stood frozen in horror. He watched as his boss wiped snow from the side of his head and turned towards him.

He was so busy trying not to panic in anticipation of the expected reprimand that he couldn't react in time to avoid what happened next.

Gibbs's perfectly-aimed snowball finally snapped him out of his dazed trance-like state and he responded instinctively, stepping behind a tree and lobbing a few more snowballs himself before his brain caught up enough to register surprise at the turn of events.

The three-way barrage of snowballs continued for about fifteen minutes before Tony started shouting frantically, drawing Tim's and Gibb's attention to Jimmy Palmer heading towards the parking lot. All three agents hurled snowballs towards the ME's assistant, who squealed when two of them smacked against his back. He spun around briefly, then turned and fled.

'You're supposed to _join in_, Palmer!' Tony called after him, but Jimmy just covered his head with his hands and scurried away faster.

Still laughing, Tony lobbed another snowball at Gibbs, who ducked behind an ornamental cannon and returned fire.

A few minutes later, Tim found himself under a combined attack from both Tony and Gibbs and scrambled backwards in search of a better defensive position. Hitting a patch of ice, his feet slid from under him and he landed hard on the uneven ground, an exposed tree-root digging painfully into his butt.

He looked up to see Tony offering him a hand. He reached up, and a second later found himself sprawled backwards in the snow with Tony half on top of him. He frantically protested his innocence when Tony started piling snow on his head, insisting futilely that he hadn't deliberately pulled his partner down.

Gibbs wisely stood clear of the icy patch and let the two men scrabble to their feet on their own before brushing them off and steering them towards the parking lot.

X X X

Tim looked up from the steaming mug of hot chocolate that he held cradled in both his hands, warming his still-numb fingers. He stifled a laugh at the sight of Gibbs with a whipped-cream moustache, still surprised to see his boss drinking anything other than his usual coffee. Tony was still complaining about being covered in snow, and Gibbs winked at him across the table before telling Tony that he should have thought of that before starting a snowball fight.

Sometimes, Tim thought, his team really was like family.


End file.
